Hostplus Cup Round 14 preview

Townsville Blackhawks v Ipswich Jets

Head-to-head: Townsville 9, Ipswich 6

Last meeting: Townsville 40 def Ipswich 10 in Round 9, 2022

Broadcast: Qplus.tv

• Townsville have won the last five meetings between these two sides but Ipswich have won three of the last five games between these two sides at Jack Manski Oval
• Townsville have lost four of their last five home games
• Ipswich have lost their last nine away games

A word from the coaches

Townsville Blackhawks coach Aaron Payne: It was a really important two points last week against the Falcons that help us stay somewhat connected to the eight. Our focus was around trying to play for 80 minutes and we did a much better job of that. We put a few things in place there to help us play better in the second half. While weren’t clinical, we were gritty and showed a fair bit of want to get the job done and get the two points. Now we need to back that up with another good performance. We’ve named an unchanged line-up but we’ll wait and see if there’s a couple of late changes. Moving forward, it’s about us as a group trying to develop some consistency in what we’re doing. Ipswich, while they’re not where they want to be, if you look at some of their performances they’ve been really good against quality sides. It’s really important we don’t have any complacency at all. We don’t deserve the right to be complacent. We need to build that consistency.

Ipswich Jets coach Ben Cross: Last week against Souths Logan showed that we know we can compete against those better teams, which is an indication we’re getting better. But our errors are once again our downfall. We had 13 and they six… we were putting ourselves under pressure with our errors. From last week though, the desire has changed a little bit. We still have a very inexperienced group of players. Some are just getting Hostplus Cup experience – it’s less than 20 games and they’re coming up against players that have played NRL. But the more games they get under their belt, the more they understand the desire. This week against Townsville, I want to see the same level of intent and competitiveness from our guys that we showed last week. Townsville have been a little indifferent this year, although won last week. They throw plenty at you with the ball. If we can take the same sort of energy into this weekend’s game that will help us.

Redcliffe Dolphins v Norths Devils

Head-to-head: Redcliffe 33, Norths 16, drawn 2

Last meeting: Norths 30 drew Redcliffe 30 in Round 2, 2023

Broadcast: Qplus.tv

• Redcliffe have won their last seven games to move into third on the Hostplus Cup ladder while Norths have lost four of their last five games
• Norths’ grand final win last year was their first in seven games against the Dolphins at Redcliffe
• Norths have lost their last three away games, with only one win in their last six away games with one drawn
• Jack Ahearn will this week celebrate his 100th game for Norths

A word from the coaches

Redcliffe Dolphins coach Ben Te’o: The last time we played the Tigers was supposed to be Round 1 but unfortunately a freak weather event washed us out. So last week was a good opportunity for us and they came back hard in the second half. They’re a real handful that side and we got away with that one. But we really wanted to start the first half with a really good attitude and make sure we were in the game at halftime and I feel we did that. We’ve moved on pretty quick however. We had an interesting game against Norths earlier in the year with them getting away to a great lead and us running them down. It was a 30-all draw. I think both coaches would rather that doesn’t happen again. They’re making some real improvements as a side and could have easily got away with a couple wins in the last few weeks. We’re trying to put together the best team we can to beat them on Saturday.

Norths Devils coach Dave Elliott: Last week was a really good game of footy. We always knew Burleigh were going to be a really tough opponent. It went backwards and forwards and it was anyone’s game until right to the end where Burleigh scored that try next to the post. We’re in that situation where we’ve been able to take a lot of confidence out of a number of games that have been really close. But we just need to learn from that and understand how to close those tight performances out. I’m expecting again a really, really tough game again this week. Redcliffe have certainly been going well. Outside of Souths Logan, I would think they’re one of the in-form teams at the moment. Felise Kaufusi and Tesi Niu will certainly give them a bit more confidence. I just have to ask the same like any other week from our guys. The challenge of going to Redcliffe and playing Redcliffe, with some pretty seasoned NRL players, I know our guys are really looking forward to it.

Western Clydesdales v Wynnum Manly Seagulls

Head-to-head: Wynnum Manly 14, Western Clydesdales 7, drawn 1

Last meeting: Clydesdales 40 def Wynnum 16 in Round 19, 2006

Broadcast: Qplus.tv

• The Clydesdales have lost their last six games while Wynnum Manly have won their last four games
• In the last edition of this rivalry, the Clydesdales won the last four games between these two sides
• Brisbane Broncos-contracted forward Keenan Palasia will celebrate his 50th Cup appearance this weekend, with all matches played at Wynnum Manly

A word from the coaches

Western Clydesdales coach Jason Alchin: It was a really good experience for the young fellas to get over to PNG last week. While we didn’t get the result, it’s just a first experience for us as a club. Fifteen players hadn’t been there before so in that way it was good for our team to taste that. If we go again next year, we know what we’re doing and what to expect. We have Wynnum Manly this week and they are a good, strong side with some Broncos in there. We’ll just have to be on our game and worry about ourselves. We haven’t played Wynnum Manly at all in this competition. It will be a good, hard game and they’re a good side and coached by Matty Head who knows what he’s doing. We know what’s in front of us.

Wynnum Manly Seagulls coach Mat Head: It was good to see the professionalism from the boys last week against Mackay. It was our second plane trip in a row and the boys adapted really well and when they went out to play, they played really professionally and got through the periods we identified. Both ends of the scoreline are extremely pleasing – to notch up the score we did but also to keep them to zero. The biggest thing after a win like that – and throughout the year – is trying to keep the standards. You turn up Monday, Wednesday and Friday and hold ourselves to our own standards. This week we have the Western Clydesdales at their home ground. They’re new to the competition and they’re going to look to their home games to start fast and compete hard. Whenever they play at home you can see they do that and we speak about that ourselves. We’ll be looking to start fast and put ourselves in the contest.

Mackay Cutters v Tweed Seagulls

Head-to-head: Tweed 14, Mackay 7, drawn 4

Last meeting: Mackay 24 def Tweed 22 in Round 12, 2022

Broadcast: Qplus.tv

• Mackay and Tweed are the only teams to have drawn four times with each other – and that was in their first 11 clashes
• Three of the last five games between these two sides were decided by two points
• The away team has won the last four games between these two sides
• Tweed fullback Lindon McGrady needs five more goals to bring up 300 and 12 more points to bring up 700 in Cup

A word from the coaches

Mackay Cutters coach Michael Comerford: Last week showed us how important the start to the game is. Wynnum Manly set a pretty high standard physically and pace-wise. The first 10 to 15 minutes was end-to-end but once the try-scoring started, we found it hard to stop their momentum. There were six tries from kicks, another from a short drop out. In terms of looking at our defensive structures, there probably wasn’t too much to look into. It was more the field position we gave up. We just led them down the field too easily and everything stuck for them. From that the momentum was all their way and we didn’t have an answer to claw it back. We need to look at how to be better, especially to start, but also we don’t want to get too disheartened from the good stuff in the previous weeks. That momentum, once it started, it was too hard to wrest it back. It will be interesting to see this week how Tweed approach us off the back of how we played last week and whether they want to take us on physically. It’s a challenge we have to be prepared for after last week. They have a young halves combination that are in that NRL space at the moment and Lindon McGrady brings a bit more experience out the bacl. They’re definitely high energy, high pace and high skill with the key players they’ve got there, particularly in that spine. It will be interesting to see their approach.

Tweed Seagulls coach Dave Penna: Our attitude towards last week’s match with the Capras was great. We still have a few areas we need to work on but they’re a classy footy side and threw plenty at us and we defended them well. (Winning) obviously makes your week a little bit easier but we’ve just been focusing on all of the things we worked hard on last week – that we work hard on them again this week while trying to get better in other areas. I’ve watched a fair few of Mackay’s games and they’re a good footy team. They’ve just been a little bit unlucky in games. They’re a team that have got high completions and they keep you honest for 80 minutes, so for us, it’s about making sure we do all of those things that we’ve been working hard on and be effective with all of them. They work hard for each other and they’ve got a lot of speed in their side, and they’ve got blokes who, in a team that aren’t winning many games of footy, are leading the simple things. Try assists, tackles, all of the things that are the hard-working things which doesn’t surprise me after watching them. For us, each week I’m learning what our best 17 looks like. This is our second or third week in a row that we’ve been able to maintain our six, seven and nine which helps the side. We’ve just got to keep working on what looks like our best side.

Northern Pride v Central Queensland Capras

Head-to-head: Pride 14, Central Queensland 10, drawn 1

Last meeting: Central Queensland 24 def Pride 4 in Round 3, 2023

Broadcast: Qplus.tv, Kayo Freebies and 9Now

• Pride have won their last four of their last five games
• Central Queensland have lost their last two games and have won only one of their last six games with one drawn
• Central Queensland have won the last three games between these two sides, with the previous game drawn
• Pride are in sixth place, despite being 13th in attack based on points scored per game. They are sixth in defence

A word from the coaches

Northern Pride coach Ty Williams: Comments yet to be submitted

Central Queensland coach Lionel Harbin: It was a pretty disappointing performance from us all around last week. Tweed outplayed us in every aspect of the game and we didn’t give ourselves a chance. We had some moments there but Tweed were pretty much in control. Our form lately, I’m looking at it from a whole. Out of the two months, there’s only two performances where we haven’t met our standards and that was against Redcliffe and Tweed. All the other games we were right in it. We’re not hitting panic stations at the moment. It was just a performance that we weren’t pleased with and we know we’re better and can play better. This week will be another tough encounter on the road. We haven’t been up there for quite some time. They have a really big forward pack, carry the footy really well, Julian Christian is a threat wherever he is on the field. We know it’s a tough ask but we’ve been really focused on what we need to get better and how we can improve.

Brisbane Tigers v Sunshine Coast Falcons

Head-to-head: Tigers 13, Sunshine Coast 11, drawn 1

Last meeting: Sunshine Coast 24 def Tigers 20 in Round 18, 2022

Broadcast: Qplus.tv 

• The Tigers’ loss last weekend to Redcliffe was their first in five games
• Sunshine Coast have three losses and draw from their last four games
• Sunshine Coast have won the last five meetings between these two sides
• This will be the 50th Cup game coached by Matt Church. He has reached this milestone across his time with PNG and Brisbane and has 22 wins, two draws and 25 losses
• This will also be the 50th Cup game for Tigers veteran Corey Thompson. He has played with both Souths Logan and Brisbane in Cup and actually made his debut for the Magpies against the Tigers, where he scored a try in his first appearance

A word from the coaches

Brisbane Tigers coach Matt Church: Last week we just didn’t match Redcliffe’s intensity in the first half and they got out to a 20-0 lead. We just weren’t good at what we have been good at previously. This week has just been about reminding the team what we are good at and putting them back in positions to control games. When you up against the same affiliate, like Sunshine Coast, you know they’ll run similar shapes and have similar attacking mindsets and defensive structures. We are as a playing group and coaching group always enjoy these games and I know our Melbourne contingent always look forward to it.

Sunshine Coast Falcons coach Brad Henderson: Last week’s performance was really similar to our previous two games. We didn’t get ourselves in the game as much as I would have liked against the Blackhawks and we weren’t learning from our mistakes. There were 11 errors. It’s really hard to compete when we do that. The Blackhawks also went 19 straight sets before they dropped the ball and they put the squeeze on us and taught us a lesson. We were letting them play the ball quicker than we needed to as well. There were some lessons out of it. I hope we’re them learning a bit quicker than the last few weeks. This week against the Tigers, we know they have been really challenging the other top four teams. There’s also a bit extra in this one given it’s the two Melbourne feeder clubs. The last few weeks we’ve been trying to focus on ourselves. We have to give ourselves a chance to play good footy and compete harder. It’s at the breaking point where we have to start winning games or forget it. I like to think the desperation and urgency will show with a bit of aggression.

Bye: Burleigh Bears

Catch all Hostplus Cup action live by subscribing at Qplus.tv.